


I can't believe it's not evil!

by 2fruity4u



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: I swear, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Phic phight 2020, death mention, this is really a happy bright fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23818258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2fruity4u/pseuds/2fruity4u
Summary: For the 2020 Phic Phight. Prompt from Sailor-toni:Danny has noticed lately that Vlad has seemed a lot happier, and hasn't been creeping on his Mom as of late. Which would be amazing if his Vlad hasn't kicked his evil plans into overdrive. Deciding to figure what has been going on Danny sneaks into Vlad's Castle to find him and Clockwork in an embrace! Obviously Vlad is using Clockwork for his evil plans, it can't be they actually love each other.
Relationships: Clockwork/Vlad Masters
Comments: 17
Kudos: 54





	1. Did you seriously just pause

There was a growl that emanated from Danny’s room. 

“Okay, but listen, when was the last time he kept quiet for  _ this  _ long? It’s just suspicious.” 

“Shush, round’s staring.” Sam waved him off.

“Shouldn’t we move?” Tucker asked.

  
“I’m staying up here.” Danny said from the comfort of his bed as Tucker lounged on a nearby chair and Sam sat on the floor. 

“Dude, the mystery box moved like 5 rounds ago, we gotta go over there.” Tucker complained. “All I got is two shit guns.” Zombies started to flood the screen they were all focused on. 

“But the other location  _ sucks.  _ The bar is so much easier to defend.” Danny countered. “If we go over there we’re gonna die no matter what.” 

“Come on, what if I get a really good gun?” Tucker asked, managing to take down a zombie after 7 hits. “Sam, help me out here.”

“I don’t really care.” Sam replied neutrally as she mowed down hoards of zombies. It was obvious who was carrying the team. “Just pick a place and stick to it.”

“Okay I’m picking then!” Tucker ran straight into the hoard, sprinting around the zombies.

“ _ Tuck! _ ” Danny yelled.

“Not in the middle of a round  _ ugh!” _ _  
  
_

Danny jumped from the bar and ran behind him while Sam more strategically brought up the rear, taking out any zombies that were fast enough to be a threat. 

Suddenly the game paused.

“Look all I’m saying is-”

“DANNY!” Both Sam and Tucker shouted in unison. 

“Okay, fine sorry.” He unpaused the game.

“Oh… crud.” Tucker said as a notice appeared that he needed to be revived.

“Not it.” Sam said at once and Danny sighed. 

“Okay fine.” Danny hopped over to where Tucker was and started reviving him only to be taken out by a zombie that snuck on him. “Uh… Sam?” 

“No way, I am not reviving both of you.”

“But we’ll lose all our gear if we die.” Tucker said in a panic.

“You said you had shit gear anyway.” 

“But then you’ll be stuck with two idiots with pistols on round fourteen.” Danny said insightfully. 

“Ugh  _ fine  _ alright. Crawl over here you idiots.” She managed to revive both of them before going down herself. “Well, there goes the game.”

“I think you aren’t giving up enough-” Tucker started, but was interrupted by the game over music. “Okay, point taken.”   
  


“We almost got to round fifteen. We were  _ that close  _ to a new highscore.” Sam lamented. “Why do I play this game with you two?”

“Because playing coop with you makes us feel better about our own game playing abilities?” Danny asked with a smile.

“Because none of us want to shell out for an xbox live sub so you make due with the two noobs at your disposal?” Tucker added realistically.”    
  


Sam snorted. “Right. Now, what were you trying to say right before you got us killed Danny?”

“Pretty sure Tuck got us killed but okay.”

“ _ Hey!” _ Tucker threw a pillow at him. “I just changed locations. You  _ paused.  _ That like, the worst video game crime,  _ ever. _ ” 

Danny knew he was in the wrong. Didn’t mean he was going to admit it. “Yeah, yeah so don’t you guys think it’s kinda suspect that we haven’t heard from Vlad in a  _ month? _ That’s the longest I’ve been fruitloop free since I met the creep.”

“Maybe he had a heart attack.” Tucker suggested. 

“Don’t be stupid Tuck, that’d be in the news.”

“Not if no one noticed yet.” Tucker replied darkly. “You know like those news stories where no one checks up on them and then when someone finally does-”

“Okay, thanks Tuck, you officially made me feel bad for a creep that’s tried to waste me.” Danny groaned and fell back onto his bed from where he was sitting. 

“With all the ghosts he has coming and going? Unlikely.” Sam said pragmatically. “Besides you can’t be rich  _ and  _ be left alone. Comes with the territory. He probably burned himself out and is now evaluating his life choices while drinking himself into a coma.” 

“Nothing but sunny theories from the both of you, huh?” Danny asked. “Here I was just thinking he was keeping himself busy with inventing new ways to make my life hell and here you two made that sound like the optimistic outcome.” 

“You want positive theories? You shouldn’t have paused the game.” Sam deadpanned. 

Tucker snorted. “She’s right you know.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Danny got up and transformed. “I’ll be back in like… twenty minutes.”

“Where you going?” Tucker asked.

“Where you think?” Danny asked, ghostly voice echoing around the small bedroom. 

“You sure poking the bear is a good idea?” Sam asked, propping herself up from where she was laying on the ground. “I mean, if he isn’t bugging you now then-”

“Then he’s either plotting something, hammered, or dead.” Danny said with a frown. “Just wanna see what exactly is in store for me.”

“Okay, but if you aren’t back in 30 we’re coming in after you.” Sam said seriously. “And text us if you need help sooner. We got your back.” 

“Thanks.” Danny smiled. “Just a quick look, that’s all.” 

They both wished him luck and he took off towards Vlad’s mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to my brother who wouldn't be able to be a good coop partner if his life depended on it <3


	2. Chapter 2

There weren't any obvious signs of activity at Vlad’s mansion… well nothing that Danny could pick up from the outside anyway. The porch lights were on but that didn’t mean anything. 

When they had lived next door to him for the few weeks they had been rich he noticed how they always seemed to come on at six on the dot. At first Danny just thought that he kept a really strict schedule which would make sense because, it was Vlad, he was weird like that. But when he mentioned it to his mom she told him that his lights were probably on a timer. 

Apparently it discouraged thieves. 

Rich people were weird in general. Vlad was just an extra dose of loopy.

Danny waited another minute outside. If he saw some sign of Vlad he wouldn’t even need to go in. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Of course he didn’t  _ need  _ to go in either way but that didn’t really cross his mind. 

After a whole lot of nothing Danny sighed and slowly approached the house.

He was already invisible but he didn’t believe for a second that something simple like invisibility would get him in undetected, that’s why when he made it inside with no alarms going off, no shields, nothing to speak of, he did start to worry. 

“Jeeze… please be drunk and not dead.” Danny whispered to himself as he started a tentative search. He looked into room after room to no avail. It made him appreciate what a massive house Vlad had. He had to have found at least ten spare rooms with nothing in them. Maybe he could use a hobby… or twenty.

Suddenly Danny heard a noise for the first time since he arrived. It was a laugh, echoing from a hallway he had yet to venture down. 

He froze.

But after a few moments it seemed that whoever had laughed was not laughing at him, rather there seemed to be some kind of conversation going on. It was odd, one of the voices was Vlad, no doubt. But the other voice, the one that had laughed was one he recognized but couldn’t place. 

He held his breath as he flew down the hall and peeked in the open door.

There were two people seated on a couch in front of a fireplace. One was Vlad, thankfully alive… or as alive as half ghosts could be. The other…. Danny’s jaw dropped. 

The other was Clockwork?

Danny’s mind started to race. What was Clockwork doing here? Why was he sitting there with Vlad? What were they talking about? How did they  _ know  _ each other? 

Was Clockwork in trouble?

Clockwork was a force to be reckoned with, that was a fact but if Vlad had found a weakness… maybe an artifact or some sort of loophole in Clockwork’s powers that could be  _ very  _ bad for… just about everyone. He could think of no other reason why Clockwork would be here. He had mentioned more than once to Danny that he wasn’t all that happy with Vlad after he had set half of Rome on fire. 

So what the  _ hell  _ was going on?

Danny took out his phone and took a video of the two talking together.

He had to go get the reinforcements on this one. Without some help he didn’t stand even the smallest chance of helping Clockwork out of whatever this was. 

[Group msg] Sam &Tuck:

Omw back now, you guys won’t believe the bs I just witnessed

It took him 5 minutes to get back to his house. That was probably a new record.

“You took this without them seeing?” Tucker asked. 

“Yeah… it was weird. Usually Plasmius is on high alert but I kinda feel like I could have sounded an airhorn in there and they wouldn’t notice.” 

“Just play the video already.” Sam demanded. 

“Right okay.”

“-founded around 753 BCE.” The recording started with Vlad mid-sentence. 

“751 BCE.” Clockwork interjected. 

“I said  _ around _ .” Vlad rolled his eyes but seemed to write something down anyway.

“If you’re going to ballpark something then you need to get it within the year at least. Otherwise it’s just insulting.” Clockwork said sagely. “You wouldn’t want to insult time itself, would you?”

“Might be less inclined to it if time didn’t keep interrupting me in the middle of the book that  _ time  _ had suggested I read, hm?” Vlad asked, not looking annoyed in the slightest. Actually the way he was looking at Clockwork was filled with sentiment. 

It was a weird look for Vlad.

“Okay, fine, continue.” Clockwork waved him on with a grin. “In 751 BCE…”

Vlad laughed, a genuinely happy sound. “Okay, in 437 BCE-” 

The recording ended just as Clockwork shoved him off the couch. 

“Uh… Danny?” Sam asked, looking very confused. “What the  _ hell  _ was that?”

“You know…” Danny looked equally mystified. “I have no fucking clue. I mean.. I was there but i wasn’t exactly paying attention to what they were saying. I was kinda getting over the shock of seeing Clockwork in Vlad’s house… I… this…” Danny seemed to no be able to find any other words.

“Yeah… this.” Sam repeated with a frown.

“Okay… just to clear the air they were flirting right? You guys saw that too or did I just black out and have a two minute and thirty three second hallucination?” Tucker asked after a lengthy silence.

“ _ Ugh  _ don’t call it flirting Tuck… it’s weird enough when he comes onto my mom. This is just ten layers of  _ weird.  _ Clockwork is like… my ghost dad.” At least Clockwork always looked out for him and taught him things. Hewas definitely a ghost family something or other at this point to Danny. 

Of course, that’s when dots started connecting for him. “Hold the fuck up. Clockwork  _ is  _ one of the only ghosts I get along with because he’s pretty big on no evil taking over the world.”   
  


“Yeah, that’s an understatement if I ever heard one.” Sam said bluntly.

“Okay so what the hell is he doing playing friendly with Mr. I’m Gonna Take Over Both Worlds? It makes no damn sense so…” Danny started pacing around in midair as he thought through this.

“So…?” Tucker prompted.

“So…  _ so  _ Vlad has to have something on him… blackmail… or some sort of artifact…” All his earlier ideas came flooding back to him. “We have to save Clockwork. Vlad has to be planning something.”

“Danny… I hate to say it because on my scale of things I don’t want ever, I rate thinking about Vlad’s lovelife as being somewhere between being violently ill and stepping in a puddle of ice water with a sock on, but… neither of them seemed… forced. They looked… happy?”   
  


“If Vlad was controlling him with a ghostly artifact then who knows what it would look like.” Danny said seriously. “Come on, there’s no way those two actually like each other.”

“Danny, I think Sam has a point here… What kind of artifact would be able to control the master of time anyway? I mean if there was something, someone would have found it by now, right?” 

“You aren’t getting it guys,  _ something  _ is going on. We need to help Clockwork out before-”

“What? They tie the knot?” Sam asked.

“Seriously Sam! Clockwork is hands down the most powerful ghost any of us have ever met. He could make it so you were never born. This is bad.”

“I get why you’re worried Danny… It’s just kinda weird, isn’t it? I mean Vlad gets Clockwork and for his big scheme he makes him read books in his library? I’d be worried if they were like… watching the future or something but this? It’s just… weird.”

“I know… but just because it’s not Vlad’s brand of crazy doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned.” Danny said. 

“It’s getting late…” Tucker commented. “They probably won’t be doing anything evil tonight if that video is anything to go by. How ‘bout you wait till tomorrow then go ask Clockwork at his lair? You said he’s always there when you drop by so you should be able to catch him without his royal loopyness.”

“Okay Tucker needs his beauty rest so we should probably all go to sleep. Sounds like we’ll need it for tomorrow.” Sam said with a yawn as she snuggled into her sleeping bag. 

“But…”

“Look Danny, for all we know, this has been going on for a month. One more day probably won’t change anything. Besides, if he is planning something you’d be better off having a good night’s sleep.”

“Besides if you go back tonight who knows? You might have to witness them making out or something. You really wanna chance that?” Tucker asked sleepily. 

“Ugh  _ gag… _ okay. You guys win. I’ll go tomorrow instead. Night.” Danny transformed back to Fenton and flicked off the light, careful not to step on either of his friends in sleeping bags on the way to his bed. 

Tomorrow, tomorrow he’d get answers. 

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

“Okay remember, you have enough real world contraband to land you five executive afterlife sentences so take the long way to the clock tower.” Sam said, for what had to be the fifth time. 

“I know, I know.” Danny adjusted the shoulder bag he had on. It had two thermoses, one specter stunner, one time medallion, and a pair of Fenton Phones. “On second thought…” He fished through the bag and put the Fenton Phones on. “Can’t be too careful when it comes to Vlad.” Danny said darkly. 

“Okay, yeah… but also remember that it might  _ not  _ be an evil plan.” Sam said. 

Danny rolled his eyes. “It’s  _ Vlad.  _ I’m pretty sure he’s not stopping by for tea and cookies.”

From the look Sam gave him, he had a feeling that was exactly what she thought was happening. 

“Okay I’ll send out the S.O.S. If it gets really bad, just keep your cellphone on.” Danny transformed into Phantom. 

“I’m keeping it with me either way. Tuck made me promise to keep him in the loop since he had to go home. He doesn’t want to miss any of… whatever this is.” Sam made a face. “Go save your time uncle before Vlad has a chance to bake him cookies or something.” 

“Something is seriously wrong… you’ll see.” Danny promised. 

“I’m sure I will.”

_____

Danny did listen to Sam about avoiding Walker so it took a good hour to reach Clockwork’s lair.

Right away warning bells were going off in Danny’s head. Clockwork always came out to greet him and right now? There was no one. 

He floated into the lair with reckless abandon. “Clockwork? You here?” 

“In the main viewing room!” Clockwork called back. 

Danny breathed a sigh of relief and sped over to the room in question. “Hey, I was kinda worried when you didn’t meet me out front. You doing okay?” 

Clockwork did look a little flustered. “Ah, yes. I am fine. Your visit today caught me by surprise.” He replied quickly. 

Danny raised an eyebrow, wondering if he should point out how insane that statement was coming from someone who was omnipotent. “Uh…”

“I was concentrating on my work. Very intently so. Even I can get caught up in something from time to time… tea?” Suddenly there was a full spread of tea things in front of Danny. 

“I’m… sure? I guess…” Danny sat down, and as he did, he heard a faint thud in the rafters above him. He didn’t show it but his mind went into overdrive. Someone else was here. Someone else was floating  _ right above _ him.

That someone else? It had to be Vlad. Who else could it be? Was he controlling Clockwork right now? What was his end goal? 

One thing was for sure, he had limited time to decide on what he was going to do. The longer he spent here, the more likely Clockwork would see what he was planning. Quickly, and without thinking about it, Danny grabbed the specter stunner from his bag and shot in the direction of the noise. He was rewarded with a loud thud and a stunned silence. He looked up at Clockwork who looked frozen mid way to pick up a cup. Then behind him, in a heap of tangled cape… Plasmius. 

Yeah, that’s just about what he thought. “Clockwork, can you hear me?” Danny asked urgently. 

“I… why would I not be able to hear you  _ and why did you just shoot… _ oh zone... please tell me he’s okay?” 

“Because he was controlling you, obviously.” Danny said slowly. “I know this might be a shock but you don’t need to listen to him anymore.”

“Bold of you to assume he listens to me anyways.” Vlad’s muffled voice came from the floor. That seemed to snap Clockwork back to his senses. 

“Danny… where would you get an idea like that?” Clockwork asked. “Vladimir isn’t controlling me in any fashion.” 

“Of course he is! Why else would he be here?” Danny asked, throwing up his arms in exasperation. 

Clockwork blushed but seemed to have no response for him, not right away. 

“He would like to not be on the floor if anyone cares.” Vlad chimed in and Clockwork rushed to his side, gently lifting him up and setting him down on a couch far away from Danny. “Sorry… I was… I meant to…” 

“Don’t worry about it.” Vlad managed, still completely unable to move so much as a finger. 

Clockwork gently brushed a few stray hairs out of his face before turning to Danny again. “What did you do to him? Will he be alright?” 

“You don’t have to  _ care  _ about that anymore!” Danny reiterated, and then turned the full force of his glare on Vlad. “What did you do to him? Why’s he acting like this?” 

“Didn’t do anything.” Vlad dropped his gaze. “Not intentionally.” 

“Intentionally?” Danny asked, jumping to his feet. “So you did do something! What’s your plan?” 

“Don’t have one.” Vlad stated simply. “Didn’t have one in the first place… I don't think any of this is going to be well received coming from me. Clockwork?” 

“Well he just thinks you’re controlling me apparently so in his mind it’s coming from you either way.” Clockwork said quietly. “I had a time and place to explain this but not here, not now.” 

“Well it’s probably better coming from you anyway, you’re better with words.”

“I don’t have many for this situation.” Clockwork said, blush returning. “How do I even begin to explain…? I suppose… but… no…” 

“I guess it’s up to me then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Vlad sighed. “Daniel, Clockwork and I are dating. Die mad about it.” He said quickly, most likely because he knew Clockwork would stop him if he knew how Vlad was planning on breaking the news. 

Of course, predictably, then all hell broke loose.


	4. Chapter 4

“You’re  _ what _ ?” Danny yelled, looking between the two rapidly. “Stop fucking with me, what’s actually happening? Possession? Blackmail? Torture?!”

“Told you he was going to take it well.” Vlad said dryly. “You see this is why no one tells you anything Daniel.” 

“You  _ shut up.” _

“Danny, can you please try and be… civil at the very least?” Clockwork asked. “It’s not so bad as you make it out to be, really.”

“Not so bad?  _ Not so bad? _ ” Danny asked disbelievingly. “It’s bad enough he’s been trying to mess with my parent’s marriage for a  _ year  _ now! You can’t just…  _ he  _ can’t just go after you too!”

“Danny, I’m asking you to listen to me.” Clockwork said calmly. “I know how this looks, and how distressing it is to you, but I am telling you, it’s not as awful as it seems.”

Danny ran a hand through his hair and scrutinized Clockwork’s face, just trying to figure out if he should trust all of this. If he could trust him. “Yeah…” He said finally. “Yeah, okay I’ll listen.” 

“Thank you.” Clockwork smiled.

“But he has to leave.” Danny nodded his head at Vlad. 

“I can’t  _ move  _ Daniel.” Vlad said incredulously. 

“He’s not going anywhere, I won’t talk about him behind his back.” Clockwork said. “He has just as much a right to be here than you.”

Danny made a face. “Alright, fine, whatever. Let the fruitloop listen in, not like he doesn’t spy on everyone anyway.” He dropped down into a chair as far away from Vlad as possible. 

Now that Clockwork had Danny’s attention he didn’t seem quite as confident. “So, Danny, you’ve… met Vlad…” 

“No shit. But you  _ knew  _ that. Unless you thought I came here every week to trash talk a  _ different  _ half ghost named Vlad Masters.” 

“No… Of course I knew… it was a starting point…”

“You used to talk about me like that?” Vlad asked flatly.

“Vladimir, if you are going to stay I ask you don’t make this harder to get through.” Clockwork said softly. “If you have any questions I can address them later. Alright?” 

“Okay.” Vlad agreed. 

Clockwork turned back to Danny. “Right, well we didn’t meet until the truce party a few months ago. I knew of him before that, obviously, but knowing about someone and knowing them are different.” 

“Okay, so you met him at the Christmas Truce… Since when did either of you even go to those things?” Danny asked suspiciously.

“I lost a bet with Skulker. I was coerced.” Vlad chimed in. 

Danny glared at Vlad but turned his attention back to Clockwork. 

“I was not.” Clockwork said with a hint of a smile. “I made a choice when I first met you, as you well know. I don’t regret that choice, it stopped a terrible future from coming to pass and I don’t regret having you in my afterlife. But I did wonder, what would the future look like if I approached Vlad instead of you… or at the very least tried to get to know him. So when I saw he was attending the Truce I took it as a chance to introduce myself without it seeming too planned.”

“And you two just clicked and it’s been great ever since, right?” Danny asked sarcastically. “You can’t expect me to actually believe that dude.” 

“Hardly.” Clockwork laughed. “The first time we met was the first time he tried ghost alcohol. He doesn’t even remember it. He stumbled into me, spilled ghost wine all over himself, and then challenged me to a fight, I suppose because he had forgotten when  _ and  _ where he was.” 

For the first time since he arrived, Danny smiled, if only for a brief moment. “Yeah,  _ that  _ part sounds like Vlad.” 

“Mhm.” Clockwork agreed fondly. “In any case, Skulker talked him down because any ghost who wasn’t completely sodden could work out who I was and that’s a fight he’d have trouble with sober so…” Clockwork shrugged. “We went our separate ways, but I left him with a way to contact me, were he so inclined. Two months later he did, demanding who I was and how my information got into his coat pocket.”

“I never used that coat… how was I supposed to know where it came from?” Vlad grumbled. 

“So I politely invited him over and seeing as he wasn’t drunk this time around he recognized who I was and promptly challenged me for the title of Master of Time. Needless to say, he came off worse for wear in that confrontation.” 

“Do you have to tell him everything?” Vlad grumbled. “It’s not his business.”

“Considering what we’ve put him through?” Clockwork asked. “I think it’s the least we can do.”

“You didn’t put me through anything Clockwork.”

“Didn’t I?” Clockwork asked with a frown. “It’s easy to justify things as being for the greater good, but the more I got to know you, the worse I felt about what I made you go through just to prove a point to the council.” 

“But you had to.” Danny insisted. “If you didn’t then Dan…” Danny caught Vlad grimacing at the name. How much did he know?

“He would have come into existence, yes. Though I could have easily burdened that knowledge with an adult as opposed to a child. No matter how mature you were, you didn’t need to deal with that. Even I am subject to blindspots, human emotion being perhaps the biggest. But I digress…” Clockwork shook his head. “He left worse for wear, but he returned when I invited him.”

“You-”

“Yes Daniel, I invited him back. I must confess, I found his fearlessness of me to be quite endearing, it reminded me of another half ghost I knew who didn’t know how to quit.”

“I am  _ nothing  _ like him.” 

“As you know him? No. I would agree. As he is now?” Clockwork shrugged. “I’ll let you make that determination.”

“What the hell does that mean? As he is now? He’s Vlad! He doesn’t change.” Danny asserted. 

“Daniel, you know that isn’t true. The only constant is change and more to the point, you have seen him change before. You  _ know _ that he can.”

“Well… I… Vlad’s being really quiet over there. Usually he won’t quit if there’s something he doesn’t know.”

“I asked him to be patient, and he already knows of everything that happened in that future that cannot come to pass. I realized that showing him what happened in that world could only help him understand why he needed to change.”

“He knows? About Dan?” Danny’s eyes widened. 

“Very well. He’s met Dan even.” Clockwork said seriously.

  
“Despite our differences, I hope you know that I do not intend on ever letting  _ that  _ happen again.” Vlad said quietly. “Dan is a being that shares all of our worst attributes… that sort of being benefits no one… not even himself.” 

Clockwork smiled sadly at Vlad. “That’s very true. But do remember, you are more than him dear. You have the ability to learn and change, and you have.” Clockwork turned back to Danny. “I doubt you want to hear exactly how we fell in love. I don’t think I could succinctly tell you. Suffice to say it was gradual, and then all at once. It makes as little sense to me as it does to you, perhaps less. I’m not human, and yet I believe I feel what your kind call love. I never imagined that this would be the result when I approached him, but I never imagined I would find myself with you as a close friend when I first met you. Humans are unpredictable in ways I just can’t account for… and you half ghosts even moreso. I understand it’s hard to get past the fact that it is him, when he has caused you so much pain. I believe given time he’d like to make up for that. I ask that, if you cannot forgive or forget, at the very least please trust me, that I know what I’m doing.” 

Danny took a good while to digest all that. His gut told him that Vlad had somehow orchestrated this. All of this. Somehow. Finally, he got up, and walked right up to Vlad. “If you hurt him… in any way… if you even  _ try _ … I’ll make sure you regret it. Do you understand?” 

“I’m positively terrified.” Vlad said blandly. 

“Plasmius I swear to god…” Danny paused when he felt Clockwork’s hand on his shoulder. 

“Vladimir, he’s trying to say he is okay with us.” 

“Funny way of saying it. Why don’t you stick around until I can actually move again? Then let’s see if you’re as eager to make threats.” 

“Or I could just start swinging right now. You’d do the same if our positions were reversed.” Danny shot back at him, eyes burning bright green. 

“Daniel, Vladimir, please. I know it’s hard to break out of old roles…” Clockwork started. 

“And I am not making it any easier.” Vlad sighed. “Right. I am sorry.” He looked back to Danny. “Thank you. I promise I do not wish any harm to befall him.”

Danny’s jaw dropped. There were hints of it before, that different Vlad Clockwork was talking about, but this? Vlad didn’t apologize. Hell, Vlad didn’t  _ accept  _ apologies. “Uh… No problem?” This was weird. This was really weird. 

“Well, now that we have that sorted out, how exactly do we unfreeze Vlad?” Clockwork asked brightly. 

“Just… wait like another 15 minutes and it’ll wear off.” Danny said slowly.

“Oh well, that’s good. In the meantime would you like me to start up some lunch?” 

“No…” Danny winced. “Uh… no thank you. I promised Sam I’d be back in time for lunch I mean. So I gotta go. But uh… raincheck?” He tried to smile, but it was more like a grimace.

“Very well, I’m sure we will see you soon.” Clockwork offered him a genuine smile in return. 

As Danny left the Clocktower he texted Sam.

[TXT to Sam] Coast is clear

[TXT from Sam] So? What happened?

[TXT to Sam] Ugh… I owe you $50

[TXT from Sam] lol I knew it.


End file.
